


Why Do You Still Want to Fight?

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: Get Out of the Fridge [8]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, padme is awesome, picking up the pieces
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-10-13
Packaged: 2018-08-22 05:55:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8275214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: The family is settling to one another, but that means it is time for Padmé Amidala to take hold of the fight again.





	

Obi-Wan had consented to hold Leia as Anakin was holding Luke after breakfast, allowing Rex and Ahsoka to actually go make use of the 'fresher to take an actual water shower. That was leading to the occasional 'are you done yet' and 'come on Rexter, it's my turn'. That Ahsoka had bullied Rex into the first shower, while she waited outside it was one more piece of them being connected in ways Padmé was worried, slightly, over.

"I have four younglings, maybe?" Padmé said, when a round of cursing escaped Rex for some trick with the Force and changing the water temperature or pressure, apparently.

"Give it a few days; the number will be five," Obi-Wan murmured, watching Leia sleeping on his chest with something approaching awe.

"Hey!" Anakin protested -- softly but very intently -- as he studied the his son (the child with his eyes) in his arms, amazed. "I _have_ kids now, I can't be one..." 

Oh, Force. He -- they -- had children. Children bright as stars in the Force, and absolutely helpless... 

"Oh, if that's all it takes for you to mature," Obi-Wan began, "Then thank you, Padmé, for delivering two fine children." There was teasing in his voice, but honesty too. He had not known he could adapt so quickly to the breach of the Code. However, there was a rightness to them in the Force, drawing Obi-Wan into needing to shelter and protect the twins in ways he felt toward Anakin.

"Well, thank you, Obi-Wan," Padmé said, understanding in her heart that events had all but crippled the Jedi's worldview. "I will be leaving you with them, though their godparents are just in the other room. I need to see my people."

Anakin picked up a pillow with the Force and flung it at his Master -- stopping it to drop very lightly on the back of his head, rather than risk Leia in any way -- for the teasing, before he looked across at his Angel. "I know," he agreed quietly, "they've been amazing about Not Noticing that we're here, but very, very frantic over you. They need to see you." 

A loud "Finally!" told them that Rex was out of the 'fresher and Ahsoka was diving into it, and Anakin shook his head slightly, amused at her antics -- though he was very sure that Ahsoka was doing part of it on purpose to distract Obi-Wan. 

"Let a vod get out of the way!" Rex griped at her, all good-natured and teasing at her as he did his level best to keep from adding to the tension.

"Was she this bad on your ship, Ani?" Padmé asked, amused by their antics, even as she stood to go downstairs. 

"I hope not," Obi-Wan said, before he looked at her. "Thank you, for watching over them," he said softly. "This cannot have been easy on any of you."

"No," Anakin answered her question, flicking a look at his Master, "but she had more to distract her, then." Like a war, like her lessons, like a life none of them were ever going to get back. He only nodded his agreement with Obi-Wan's thanks... there was nothing he could say that would fit it better. 

Now, just to see what he could do about the chasm between Obi-Wan and Rex... 

"They looked after me," Padmé told them both. "Including delivering our children." She stopped at Anakin and placed a kiss on his forehead. "I'll return as soon as they have briefed me and we hammer out how to handle my return to the Senate tomorrow."

Anakin nodded, reaching up with the Force to carefully replace a pin attempting to stray out of her hair and let a lock drop down. "Okay. I'll probably be right here -- I seem to be trapped by a few kilograms of infant, after all..." 

That he wished she didn't have to leave, that he hoped she could hurry back, was probably written all over his face, but he tried to master it, smiling up at her. She would be only a floor away, and not for that long, it would be fine... 

She gave him a smile and then swept out of the apartment. When Rex emerged, wearing the Corellian clothes he had been given, he looked for her and immediately tensed at the idea of her out without a guard.

Obi-Wan felt that sharp pulse of duty and concern; it hurt on one hand but on the other, it was one more reminder of hope for Cody possibly being saved.

"It's okay, Rex," Anakin said softly, "I'm listening for her, and... Moté's with her, now. Or at least, I think that's Moté, it could be Rabé." He shrugged slightly, telling the handmaidens apart with a light touch could be difficult. Rex being so protective over Padmé... he knew himself well enough to know he could easily have been jealous -- but they'd thought he was lost, and Rex had given his wife all of that boundless loyalty of his. 

"Sorry, Sir. She insisted on touching base with a contact on her own on Drall, and that didn't set well with me," Rex admitted. He came and sat against the loveseat, on the floor. "Felt like I was neglecting my duty."

Anakin made a low, edged noise, and shifted his weight and his hold on Luke enough to lay one hand on Rex's shoulder. He was so very done with pretending he didn't care, didn't need contact with people, could live by the Code that had failed them all so badly. No, he had his family. "No, that wouldn't have, at all." 

Rex pushed his shoulder up into the touch, then closed his eyes as he rested there, never one to turn away a chance to rest. He might even have quiet for awhile… and as if sensing his thoughts Leia began to fidget and make the early protests that he had learned meant 'wet'.

Obi-Wan looked down at the child who had been sleeping peacefully that was now squirming, her face scrunching up in distaste, and realized he was about to need one of those childcare lessons.

Anakin felt the unhappy/uncomfortable from his daughter, felt Rex start to move, and let his hand slip away. He should probably pay attention to this... well, he could do that without disturbing his son, hopefully. 

Rex shifted, grabbed the kit bag for the babies, and moved over to Obi-Wan. Very patiently, and without invading the general's space too much, he walked the elder man through changing a diaper. The captain, who they both had seen wade through a battalion of droids with destruction so evident, was taking to the care of infants quite easily.

Obi-Wan listened, following directions… and then looked disturbed when the diaper fell right off. Rex smiled, and showed him directly, stressing how snug the fasteners needed to be.

Anakin blinked, watching. "So there's a trick to it... okay. Bets on how many tries it takes me, anybody?" 

"Having already lost all of the bets in the pool, Sir, I'm not placing anymore on you," Rex responded easily.

"Bets?" Obi-Wan asked, despite himself.

"Possibly not fit for little ears, sir," Rex demurred.

Anakin made an equally interested noise, but that was Rex's stubborn tone, so he would wait for later to ask about it. 

+++

Padmé was genuinely pained by hearing all that had happened. Between the military infighting and threat of a military coup with the Fleet above, the lack of progress on clearing the Jedi of wrongdoing, and the fact that the Senate was squabbling incessantly as Senators tried to hide their own sins, she felt despair over the state of affairs.

Several that had signed the petition had been arrested and mostly released since that awful day, but a few were facing charges of complicity in a conspiracy against the Republic, with factions pressing for wider investigations. How was she supposed to sort fact from fiction and do what was needed?

She came back to the apartment to find Ahsoka curled up in a ball, her head pillowed on one arm, and a blanket tossed over her in a corner of the main room. Rex was camped out beside her with a separate blanket and she wondered if that would last the night.

Personal worries, at least, were easier to deal with. For now, she went directly to her children, glad she had left bottles for them, but needing to feed them. Anakin had them in the bedroom, while Obi-Wan was either in the spare room or not in the apartment anymore.

Anakin smiled up at her, bright and brilliant, as she came back to them, before the lines of distress in her face made him worry. "Hi," he murmured, reaching out to her with his gloved hand. Leia was laying on his left hand, while Luke was more tucked against his chest. "Was it that bad?" 

"Yes." Padmé stripped out of her clothes and started letting her hair down. "I don't want to dwell on it right now, Ani. It will upset the babies." She wanted to feed them and sleep with her husband, before she had to be at the Senate to start fighting.

"Of course," Anakin agreed -- once he could think enough to stop staring at the utter beauty his wife was -- several seconds later. There were changes in her, different even than he'd seen in those few nights he'd gotten to be with her before everything fell apart. "I don't want you to, either. I just... worry about you. 

"I'd help with your hair, you know..." 

She smiled at him. "It soothes me, to handle it. Rabé offered, before I left them." She needed the time it took, the precision it required, to fully calm before she laid down to take care of her children. "We will not be announcing the birth of the children until things settle down. Which means keeping them here, and I pray Rex doesn't mind guarding them further. 

"At least it gives him something to focus on until I can let him present his case."

"I'm pretty certain I can tell you that Rex won't mind," Anakin answered, "at least, not if the way he was watching Obi-Wan and me all day is any clue. He loves them, Angel. A lot. And yeah... there's that, too." 

He'd had no idea that Mando'a culture, let alone the version the _vod'e_ had built, had the concept of godparents, but Rex was firmly and delightedly settled into that role, at the moment. Not that he thought Rex would ever let it go, but right now it was anchoring him to sanity. 

"You, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka all need to be very careful leaving here," Padmé said. "There are patrols, of the Guard and stragglers from units that have not been called back to their ships. I understand you weren't stopped from returning here?" she asked, looking to him. "But the vod'e have twice now attacked Force users carrying lightsabers. Moté was very distressed, as one of them was quite young."

"Artoo said we had altered codes... something the Fleet recognized from the -- from him -- shhh, shhh, it's all right, little princess, daddy's sorry," he murmured, soothing before he reinforced his shields and his control as much as he could. "I'll warn them both that that kriffing thing is still in control of the vod'e. Neither of them will want to hurt a brother that can't help what they're doing. I think I've almost got what Rex did to his friend reworked to where a squad could all be hit, as long as they were bunched together, but..." 

It was still so small-scale. Then again... that might be better.

Padmé pursed her lips, but then breathed out slowly, and continued unwinding her hair. Soon enough, she was lying on her side, reaching for Leia who had settled some but was now alert and hungry. "We'll get through this, Anakin. And make a stronger Republic for it, if I have anything to say on the matter."

"That's always been your goal, I think," Anakin said softly, watching his wife and daughter with quiet awe. "I'm just going to keep my head and opinions as far out of galactic politics as I can for the foreseeable future, given that two-thirds of what I thought I knew about the subject was -- " 

Luke stirred, quiet love pushing against his mind, gentle and... helpful, and Anakin breathed out, amazed at their son, now. 

Padmé rested a hand on his, smiling softly. "You, my love, will sit back and be husband and father, out of the limelight, until the Jedi regroup and reform their own issues." She loved him, loved their family, and knew that her plan was the best.

Anakin nodded, carefully tangling his fingers with hers. "That sounds like exactly what I want... except for how much I need to help the _vod'e_. I just have to figure out how to do it, how to be able to _move_ to do it..." 

"We'll work it out, somehow. I'm calling for technicians and medical help from Naboo. Rex can talk it out and share his data with them." She squeezed his fingers and focused on taking care of the babies.

+++

Padmé easily ignored the hush and then whispers as she came into the Senate, dressed in her full regalia, face immaculately made up, hair elegantly coifed. She drew the coldest presence to her that she could, letting her displeasure with events cause a stir.

Naboo was angry, and was on the figurative warpath.

Her allies were already straightening, eager to hear what she said, yet she waited. She waited for the normal business to spiral into a petty, bickering mess, and then some.

When tempers were almost to the point of calling out honor fights, she signaled the acting Chair to speak.

The poor Jenet currently serving in that position waved her on, and announced that the Senator of Naboo, representing the Chommell Sector, had the floor.

"Fellow Senators," she began in the same flat, disapproving tone she had used fourteen years prior to address a fractious Senate over her planet's plight. "We have listened to you all, and we are strongly disappointed! The evidence at hand is overwhelming that we must focus on the Republic, mending it in all the places it has frayed, not bicker like younglings at play!

"You continue to ignore motions to try Palpatine for his actions, or even open a full investigation! I say here and now, Naboo demands this action! The evidence as presented makes it clear that he used powers known to be those of the Sith, not the Jedi! There are recorded instances of such attacks in the field records, suffered by the valiant men who have kept us free!

"You persist in ignoring all evidence that a grave injustice, a genocide, has been perpetrated against the brave beings of the Jedi Order, most of whom were nowhere near Coruscant at the time of the supposed coup, who were executed without benefit of a trial on the word of a man whose entire history now begs investigation!

"You leave those men leaderless and at the mercy of the compulsion laid on them to betray beings who bled and fought for them! You let the Fleet instill fear and bargain for ever greater power when there has not been a single Separatist attack in the weeks since events occurred! We find it heinous to learn there has not even been an official investigation as to how such a coordinated, galaxy wide attack took place!"

She looked all around, as her words grabbed at them, shamed them, made them angry. She wanted them all focused, and she was getting it.

"Naboo stand by both the Vod'e and the Jedi survivors in calling for this farce to come to an end! Naboo calls for Palpatine to be tried, posthumously, for engineering this war to gain power! Naboo calls for aid to be delivered to the units of men that are, from reports we have had, beginning to grasp what has happened, and their actions in causing it! We call for the Jedi to be protected, until the compulsion is cleared and all men are treated!"

Complete silence held for several moments, as unlike the first time she had stood here as it could be, and she looked from pod to pod. Not at her allies, she knew what they would say -- she hoped -- but at those who had been the strongest supporters of the war. She needed them to hear her, arrogant as the thought was the _galaxy_ needed them to hear her... and she saw on some faces that finally, finally they were. 

One of them was even the first to lift xir hand to the acting Chancellor. Through her earpiece, she heard a very grudging admission that it seemed nothing would happen until the late Chancellor's actions were fully investigated. That the rest of the speech was mostly that xie thought little would come of it, she did not care about. The truth would come to light, and something could finally, finally happen. 

"A motion to investigate the actions of the former Chancellor is on the floor," the acting-Chair called out.

"Seconded!" the Bothan senator called without hesitation. Padmé had seen a discreet communication from Corellia in that direction, probably implying that there were secrets that even a Bothan would not figure out, and they had snapped at the bait.

That suited her fine, and she faded back into the throng of politicians, as an investigative committee was appointed. Because of Palpatine's origin, she could not be a part of it, but she saw as Mon Mothma pushed herself into that.

They might, just maybe, begin clawing back their lives from the chaos.


End file.
